No, this is not a joke but the rumors of a merger are definitely not confirmed. Yet a source tells us the process is in the works and the merger could be revealed later this year with both companies operating independently of each other.

Two of the top names in luxury (three if you count Raffles) merging together? Why, we're just going to need a moment here.

Andaz Hotels pride themselves on their connection to the authentic, local experience, so when we heard that they may be opening up far off the beaten track in Aruba, we got pretty excited.

Though it's still very much in the early, unconfirmed rumor stage, we hear a whisper that there may be a new Andaz coming to Isla di Oro in Aruba, a site thick with mangroves where there used to be a restaurant on the water reachable via a pier. From what we can figure out, Isla di Oro is a diving spot, so how they plan to construct a hotel here kinda makes our heads spin. We'll just wait to see if it actually happens. Our source says there will be a decision made in the spring.

Then the following year it was announced that actually China, Panama and Qatar would get the new PH Hotels first. Well, here we are on the edge of 2014, and no new Planet Hollywood hotels exist anywhere. But it looks like one is very close to opening and close to home too.

We stumbled across some new Planet Hollywood trademarks the other day--one for Phabulous and another for Phamous, two PH-branding concepts that are loosely used by the Vegas resort (mostly in promotions and on social media.) The owner of the trademark is listed as Planet Hollywood in Orlando and not Caesars Entertainment (which owns the property in Vegas.) The trademarks are both listed as for "hotel and resort hotel services." Sounds promising! But does this mean there's an actual hotel site in Orlando laying around for the Planet Hollywood brand? Yes, actually there is.

When Thompson Hotels'Jason Pomeranc and his partners left the Commune Hotels collection the other month, they walked away with Thompson's prized NYC properties but had to leave a few choice hotels behind as well as the beloved Thompson name.

Now, as Pomeranc and co. toil away on their new boutique hotel brand, we're getting word from some super secret hotel insiders that the Hollywood Roosevelt wants out of the Commune. We're not exactly sure of the reason but there is speculation that the hotel's owners liked the Pomeranc association. But again, this is purely speculation.

Indeed, a spokesperson for Thompson and Commune told us that the Hollywood Roosevelt "will remain a Thompson-branded property under Commune's management."

We had heard about the Montage back in August but Four Seasons? That was new to us.
So we did a little research and found that indeed Four Seasons is joining the party.

LosCabosGuide.com reports the hotel will open in The Cabo Riviera development which is located on more than 900 acres in the town of La Ribera, only 38 miles east of Los Cabos. That puts it pretty far from the tourist corridor and the action of the marina but it will still front the Sea of Cortez, ensuring lots of relaxing on the beach and water activities. The Cabo Riviera development will also include a golf course and its own 280-slip marina, along with an artists village, and plenty of high-end residences. (Sorry, no Senor Frog's here!)

In our research, we also uncovered a website for the Ritz-Carlton Reserve (essentially, a super luxe Ritz-Carlton) in San Jose del Cabo that was announced the other month. This Reserve should open in 2015 but sorry, your dollars won't go any further here as the dollars to peso exchange rate is pretty much the same. But we can all hope that the Reserve will keep prices below a $1,000 a night.

A super secret hotel spy has given us the lowdown on the Ace's Asia hotel expansion plans but was reluctant to divulge the exact city. So now we're left to speculate. We actually think Beijing would be the perfect spot for an Ace Hotel, perhaps in the 798 Art Zone where art galleries and shops have sprung from former military factory buildings. But the Ace Hotel brand could also do well in Shanghai and Hong Kong too. Then again, maybe Ace will surprise us by opening in another one of China's big cities like Guangzhou, Chongqing, or Chengdu.

And it may not even be China. Maybe Tokyo is at the top of their list, especially now that the Summer Olympics are coming there. You never really know with Ace. But you can expect it to be in a historic building in a pre-revitalized area with a fascinating, if quirky, history. That's just the Ace way.

Some crazy news out of Miami yesterday. Gianni Versace's former South Beach residence, Casa Casuarina, was sold yesterday for $41.5 million to a company called VM South Beach LLC, whose principals include the Nakash Family, who in turn own Jordache jeans. Versace being taken over by Jordache? We never thought this day would happen. But wait, there's even more shocking news.

Most recently, Versace's abode had been a 10-room boutique hotel called The Villa By Barton G. Before that it was a members-only club by the name of Casa Casauarina. Now, the new owners plan on turning it into a hotel (again) and they want to merge it with another one of the properties they own--The Hotel Victor which sits next door.

But wait, isn't the Victor about to turn into a Civilian Hotel new hotel from the Thompson Hotel founders? That's what we thought. But the Nakash family, who also own the Breakwater and Hotel Ocean, is saying they want to merge the two properties and rebrand the whole shebang using the Versace name.

'We'd like the public to use it, so we're going to create a hotel that will be consolidated with the Victor,' Nakash said. 'We're going to use the name Versace after we receive OK from the family.'

On Monday, we were wondering what was going on with King & Grove's first Los Angeles hotel, The Hotel Clark. During a recent swing by the property, everything looked good and ready to go. But we couldn't determine the hold-up. We had heard whispers of city approval and union issues but it may have been more complex than that.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Ed Scheetz who co-founded the brand with Ben Pundole, (who has since fled to Edition Hotels) and Robert McKinley who has continued to work on Ruschmeyer's in the Hamptons, has just bought the five hotels currently under the K&G brand back from owner Joseph Chetrit of The Chetrit Group. That includes the troubled Hotel Chelsea which Scheetz is now "rebuilding from the inside out."

What that doesn't include, as far as we can tell, is the Hotel Clark nor the second LA hotel K&G was planning for downtown. Which would leave The Hotel Clark without a management company. This probably explains the delay in opening but still, we doubt the Hotel Clark would have a tough time finding a management company for very long. Surely, someone out there must have signed a deal with the Chetrit Group. Hey, super secret hotel tipsters? We're all ears.

Back in February we told you that rumors were swirling in cyberspace that a Trump Hotel & Tower might be coming to Vancouver. Well, stop the swirling because we can confirm that Mr. Trump is coming to Canada’s biggest west coast city.

The Trump International Hotel & Tower Vancouver is expected to open in summer 2016. Here are some of the tantalizing deets:

• 147 guest rooms, 218 residences

• Vancouver’s first pool bar nightclub (details on what this is all about are scarce right now)

• A champagne lounge

• A signature restaurant

• Canada’s first Mar-a-Lago Spa by Ivanka Trump, a new line of boutique spas

• Trump Attaché – a dedicated department that offers guests personalized attention with no service off limits (we can only imagine!)

We cover plenty of Manhattan news here on HotelChatter, but we just can't deny the hotel invasion that's been happening in the city's outer boroughs (Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island) lately, and which continues to gain momentum.

Just the other week, we reported on an 89-year-old mansion in the Bronx being converted into a 10-room boutique hotel. Now, we learn that a new 82-room boutique hotel is taking shape in the Gowanus area of Brooklyn.

Though it's still in the planning stages right now, the Gowanus Inn & Yard is set to make a splash in the local nightlife scene when it opens in 2015. It turns out the project is being led by Matt Abramcyk, a well-known restauranteur who was behind Manhattan's wildly popular Beatrice Inn.

And even though no one's touting this place as "Beatrice Inn Part 2," Capital New York leaked a memo from the developers, which announces Abramcyk as the "principal of the food & beverage entity which will operate all the hotel's public spaces." As in, get ready, because the party's coming to Gowanus.

A few weeks ago we received a tip that the Viceroy Hotel Group had signed a deal to open a new resort in the Sambala region of Cape Verde, an island group off Africa's west coast.

This area, which is pretty off-the-grid for many travelers, is known as a resort haven for Europeans and would certainly be a swanky addition to the hotel group's roster, which includes Abu Dhabi and Snowmass.

When asked to confirm the tip we received, Viceroy Hotel Group CEO Bill Walshe commended us for being "on the ball", but would only say, "We're thrilled to establish a Viceroy presence in the incredible destination of Cape Verde. That said, we're still developing our relationship with the resort so any details would be premature at this point."

Still, we're not ones to be waved away, and a small dig around found a LinkedIn Job opening for a "Resort Director of Engineering" at Viceroy Hotel Group in Santiago, Cape Verde, with a phase one scheduled to open in July 2013. Hmmmm. So, it does appear this resort may become a reality.